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The Energy Blog is where all topics relating to The Energy Revolution are presented. Increasingly, expensive oil, coal and global warming are causing an energy revolution by requiring fossil fuels to be supplemented by alternative energy sources and by requiring changes in lifestyle. Please contact me with your comments and questions. Further Information about me can be found HERE.

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January 01, 2006

Note on Flywheels in Transportation

I caused a little confusion on my post on flywheels by including their use in vehicles under the category of energy reuse, although that was a correct category. A little further explanation is due however.

Flywheels have been used on engines since their inception and the technology for this application is quite mature. A possible new application for energy storage has developed with the introduction of hybrid vehicles. This is because batteries cannot absorb nearly all the power that is available from regenerative braking, the chemical reaction in a battery is much too slow for this. More than 50% of this energy is wasted. Flywheels and ultracapacitors can do this job much better. Flywheels have been used on hybrid subway and hybrid light rail vehicles with success. Their use is being developed for use on hybrid delivery vehicles. The ultracapacitor has been used on hybrid buses with very good success. Both of these technologies are expensive and add to the cost of already expensive hybrid vehicles. Where life-cycle costs are important, as in high mileage commercial vehicles, they can be justified. One flywheel company is developing a flywheel system aimed at the personal vehicle market, and they are working with on low volume producer. It is my opinion that flywheels are too heavy and too costly to be incorporated into automobiles with current or near term technology.

On the other hand ultracapacitors are lightweight, in fact it is claimed that the combined weight and size of an ultracapacitor and battery are reduced compared to the current weight and size of a battery. This is because the ultracapacitor can take over the starting duty of the battery, reducing the size of the battery considerably. (An ultracapacitor with enough capacity for a few starts is state of the art and increases in functionality with decreasing temperature, the capacitor can be recharged in about 15 minutes of driving--ultracapacitors are starting to replace batteries for starting of diesel engines because of these properties) The life of the battery is also increased considerably due to less cycling and no deep discharges. The cost of ultracapacitors can be reduced significantly with high volume production, so this looks like a much more suitable means of increasing the energy reuse in a car.

It seems to me that a very cost effective "mild hybrid" could be made by putting in an ultracapacitor combined with shutting off the engine when the vehicle is stopped. If this would increase the mileage by 10 to 15% with little increase in cost it should be a no brainer. So what is wrong with my reasoning or are the car companies just not motivated.

Comments

It seems to me that a significant problem with transportation applications of flywheels would be gyroscopic effects. If an automobile-based flywheel were spinning fast enough it could either cause a car to be impossible to turn or lift it on two wheels (depending on the axis of the flywheel). Even if the effects weren't this powerfull, it seems likely that sudden turns or bumps could damage the flywheel bearings potentially causing them to fail and send hypersonic shrapnel shooting though the engine.

The functionality of any alternative power system for vehicles needs to be analized with the vehicles planned use. A very high percentage of the daily driving done by the vast majority of cars in the us (especially in metro areas) is less than 50 miles. Therefore a battery powered or flywheel powered vehicle capable of 60 miles per charge could meet this demand. Most of these vehicles are driven to work or commuter lot and parked for severl hours in which time there power system can be recharged by the power grid or even a solar panel on the roof. The key to getting this type of vehicle into the main stream is two fold. We have a chance to do this now because the cost of gasoline is not going to go back to the 1.00 per gallon level soon and perhaps ever. The interest in electric vehicles is greater than ever especiall for the second car that is driven to commute to work or for running arround town. If the US car manufacturers don't ac fast they will loose another opportunity to foriegn manufacturing as some company is going to step in and meet the consumer demand.